Screwed Up Education System

Breakerfall2010

Call me a disgruntled employee, but in California, teachers (the good teachers anyway who actually give a damn) are getting screwed left and right. I won teacher of the year last year, and still got laid off. There are some friends of mine who won teacher of the year this year, and they got a pink slip too. I created a video to inspire students and teachers to keep hope alive, but people higher up want it off of youtube, and even threatened to fire me again. I almost took it off, but then I said, "Screw it". So here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlUVkroOzAg

Background music is by Coldplay.

_

:(

That's so sad. I'm sorry you and others have been laid off. I never will understand how this society can place such little value on education. They say they value it, but they don't put their money where their mouths are. Teachers are getting laid off around here too - but I don't think they're calling it that. They're saying, "You can't work at this school anymore because we don't have money to keep you, but you're not really fired because you can still go work at another school in the school district - if you can find one to take you. It's more of a reorganization than layoffs." Of course, it's next to impossible to find another school that's hiring.

You made that video?? It was great! (What do you teach?) I don't understand why the school district would want you to pull it. Did you not get releases from the kids' parents or something?

Good luck finding another job. And thank you so much for all you do!!

Pap

scb wrote:

Good luck finding another job. And thank you so much for all you do!!

+1

Kel Varnsen

That sucks that you lost your job. But I do wonder how much of it has to do with the super powerful teachers unions out there. I mean how many good teachers are getting laid off because of budget cuts, while crappy teachers with tons of senority are keeping their jobs and are nearly untouchable?

haffajappa

Kel Varnsen wrote:

That sucks that you lost your job. But I do wonder how much of it has to do with the super powerful teachers unions out there. I mean how many good teachers are getting laid off because of budget cuts, while crappy teachers with tons of senority are keeping their jobs and are nearly untouchable?

As the daughter of a very hardworking teacher, this is a good point. My mom is a great teacher, and it shows in her class attendance. She makes all her own worksheets and always keeps her class interactive and she puts a LOT of work into the job.

She also works with a lot of people who take advantage of things, don't know how to teach, are too self absorbed in themselves to actually care about the students, etc. But you can't lay off these people because of the union...

haffajappa

I feel for you, breakerfall.
Well, maybe I can't feel the same pain but I know the frustration.
Like I said my mother is a teacher, luckily she has a lot of seniority and is popular among students. But my best friend is currently applying to do her PDP program (teacher's program here in B.C.) and she has to do it knowing full well there are no jobs out there.

Its frustrating they keep firing teachers and straining our school system.
I don't wanna bring up the olympics again but it was really disheartening on the same newspaper front page you see hundreds of teachers losing their jobs and then a list of budget overruns for 2 weeks of games.

The "liberal" government here are destroying our public services.
http://www.straight.com/article-324776/ ... es-layoffs
^ and that's just the city of Vancouver.

Breakerfall2010

scb wrote:

:(

That's so sad. I'm sorry you and others have been laid off. I never will understand how this society can place such little value on education. They say they value it, but they don't put their money where their mouths are. Teachers are getting laid off around here too - but I don't think they're calling it that. They're saying, "You can't work at this school anymore because we don't have money to keep you, but you're not really fired because you can still go work at another school in the school district - if you can find one to take you. It's more of a reorganization than layoffs." Of course, it's next to impossible to find another school that's hiring.

You made that video?? It was great! (What do you teach?) I don't understand why the school district would want you to pull it. Did you not get releases from the kids' parents or something?

Good luck finding another job. And thank you so much for all you do!!

I'm glad you liked the video. I formed an after school program after I got laid off last year and some of the kids that were in the video are from the program. Every kid that you see in the video had their parents' sign a media release form. The reason why the district doesn't like the video is because it creates too much "controversy". The district wants to keep it quiet from the parents that they are being unfair with their teachers. A couple of months ago the teacher's union and our district agreed to a budget plan and they both signed off on it. In the plan, a percentage of teachers would be laid off as well as a district wide pay cut for all employees. Now, the district wants to add more to that plan and cut more teachers more salaries, even after the plan has been signed off. There's a lot more to it, but that's the gist of it.

Breakerfall2010

haffajappa wrote:

I feel for you, breakerfall.
Well, maybe I can't feel the same pain but I know the frustration.
Like I said my mother is a teacher, luckily she has a lot of seniority and is popular among students. But my best friend is currently applying to do her PDP program (teacher's program here in B.C.) and she has to do it knowing full well there are no jobs out there.

Its frustrating they keep firing teachers and straining our school system.
I don't wanna bring up the olympics again but it was really disheartening on the same newspaper front page you see hundreds of teachers losing their jobs and then a list of budget overruns for 2 weeks of games.

The "liberal" government here are destroying our public services.
http://www.straight.com/article-324776/ ... es-layoffs
^ and that's just the city of Vancouver.

Wow, its crazy that not only here in the states that education is taking a big blow, but also in Canada. Thanks for the support, and it sounds like your mom is an awesome teacher.

OffHeGoes29

Teachers are really underpaided. Its such an important job and not enough money is given to our education system.

Breakerfall2010

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Teachers are really underpaided. Its such an important job and not enough money is given to our education system.

Then there are teachers who knew going into education that it's a low paying profession. Money doesn't matter to a truly good teacher. It's all about making a difference.

But a little respect from the government and school districts would be nice.

_

Breakerfall2010 wrote:

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Teachers are really underpaided. Its such an important job and not enough money is given to our education system.

Then there are teachers who knew going into education that it's a low paying profession. Money doesn't matter to a truly good teacher. It's all about making a difference.

But a little respect from the government and school districts would be nice.

With all due respect, simply making a difference doesn't pay the mortgage.

Breakerfall2010

scb wrote:

Breakerfall2010 wrote:

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Teachers are really underpaided. Its such an important job and not enough money is given to our education system.

Then there are teachers who knew going into education that it's a low paying profession. Money doesn't matter to a truly good teacher. It's all about making a difference.

But a little respect from the government and school districts would be nice.

With all due respect, simply making a difference doesn't pay the mortgage.

You're right, it doesn't. When I got laid off last year, I was so pissed off that the district took my classroom away that I almost walked away from the profession. Unemployment can barely pay for anything, and I was also engaged at the time so my funds were really slim. After I finished sulking for a couple of months, I decided to start my own after school program. I realized that I didn't need to be a classroom teacher to continue to make a difference the way I want to. So my fiance and I lived off of unemployment (she's a teacher too who got fired), substituting, and the money we were getting from the after school program.

Then I got rehired in February and things were looking up, but literally two weeks later I got another pinkslip (in our district, they hand pinkslip notices in March). We're getting married in September of this year, and right now we're trying to plan financially of how to handle everything.

Kel Varnsen

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Teachers are really underpaided. Its such an important job and not enough money is given to our education system.

I would say that I wouldn't have a problem with teachers being paid more if the system was changed so that the extra money went to teachers who were really good at their jobs; rather than the system most places we have now where the highest paid teachers are the ones who have showed up for the longest (and have managed to avoid showing up drunk or touching kids). In Ontario for example the teachers in the highest pay grade (the ones with the most senority) can make 6 figures.

cincybearcat

Well, when you are forced to join a union to work and that union protects seniority over all else...you get a shitty system.

_

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

cincybearcat

scb wrote:

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

You'd like to know how to measure which teachers are good? Do you ask this of any other profession? Since I'm not in the education business (teacher or otherwise) I'll defer to someone who is, but I don't think it is any harder than any other profession.

There is more talk about shitty teachers because everyone comes in contact with teachers over a large portion of their lives. Do you spend that much time with lawyers? Accountants? Nope.

Also, are teachers exclusively union?

_

cincybearcat wrote:

scb wrote:

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

You'd like to know how to measure which teachers are good? Do you ask this of any other profession? Since I'm not in the education business (teacher or otherwise) I'll defer to someone who is, but I don't think it is any harder than any other profession.

There is more talk about shitty teachers because everyone comes in contact with teachers over a large portion of their lives. Do you spend that much time with lawyers? Accountants? Nope.

Also, are teachers exclusively union?

If someone calls many people of another profession shitty at that profession, yes, I ask how they measure what it means to be shitty and what it means to be good. I do believe that if people are going to talk about shitty teachers (or shitty garbage men, or shitty lawyers, or whoever), then they should be able to explain what they mean by this. (I realize that you didn't exactly do this.) I think it probably is harder to determine how to measure good teachers than many other, more objective professions.

I'll point out that, although we don't always meet them in person, we spend many more years of our lives employing the services of trash collectors, mail carriers, physicians, etc. - and yet we don't hear half as much judgement about them, especially not as a group. We all know that the healthcare system in this country is probably in worse shape than the education system, yet the failure of the education system is blamed on teachers much more than the failure of the healthcare system is blamed on doctors (and you certainly wouldn't see all the healthcare providers in an entire system fired like happened in that one school system). But everyone's a fucking critic when it comes to teachers, and I think this is just another aspect of their undervaluation in this country.

No, teachers are not exclusively union.

know1

My degree is in education and I've taught and coached in high school. My mom was a teacher, my Dad's degee was in education and he's worked as a teacher, my sister-in-law is a teacher. Let's just say I have more than an outsider's view of education - at least in my area.

That being said, I personally believe our school systems are terrible and that there are likely more bad teachers and administrators than good ones. There are so many things that bother me about the state of education that I don't even know where to begin, but suffice it to say the school systems and many of the teachers are doing a large disservice to their students, society and tax paying citizens.

Kel Varnsen

scb wrote:

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Considering that the original poster was named teacher of the year, there is obviously at least one way to measure which teachers are doing better. I am sure if you actually asked teachers they could think of tons more.

scb wrote:

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

There are of course shitty people in every profession. Except most professions if you are bad at your job you don't get regular raises every year. In fact in most professions if you aren't very good at your job your employer has the option of canning your ass. With teachers as long as you have seniority, unless you do something really bad like beat or molest a kid, it is pretty hard to fire you. And not only that but if you are teaching the same grade year after year, once you develop a lesson plan you job gets easier (so essentially as your job gets easier you make more money).

cincybearcat

scb wrote:

I'll point out that, although we don't always meet them in person, we spend many more years of our lives employing the services of trash collectors, mail carriers, physicians, etc. - and yet we don't hear half as much judgement about them, especially not as a group.

I think if you add up the actual time with these people, teachers are going to win hands down. And I don't think it's an indication of being undervalued at all. I think it's the fact that people value education so highly that leads them to criticize poor teachers. And my perception is that bad teachers are rarely fired due to poor performance, could be wrong. Seems like they only get fired for 1) molesting/hurting kids 2) budget cuts.

scb wrote:

No, teachers are not exclusively union.

Thanks. Is it all public school teachers? Every teacher I've known has been in the union.

mikepegg44

scb wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

scb wrote:

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

You'd like to know how to measure which teachers are good? Do you ask this of any other profession? Since I'm not in the education business (teacher or otherwise) I'll defer to someone who is, but I don't think it is any harder than any other profession.

There is more talk about shitty teachers because everyone comes in contact with teachers over a large portion of their lives. Do you spend that much time with lawyers? Accountants? Nope.

Also, are teachers exclusively union?

If someone calls many people of another profession shitty at that profession, yes, I ask how they measure what it means to be shitty and what it means to be good. I do believe that if people are going to talk about shitty teachers (or shitty garbage men, or shitty lawyers, or whoever), then they should be able to explain what they mean by this. (I realize that you didn't exactly do this.) I think it probably is harder to determine how to measure good teachers than many other, more objective professions.

I'll point out that, although we don't always meet them in person, we spend many more years of our lives employing the services of trash collectors, mail carriers, physicians, etc. - and yet we don't hear half as much judgement about them, especially not as a group. We all know that the healthcare system in this country is probably in worse shape than the education system, yet the failure of the education system is blamed on teachers much more than the failure of the healthcare system is blamed on doctors (and you certainly wouldn't see all the healthcare providers in an entire system fired like happened in that one school system). But everyone's a fucking critic when it comes to teachers, and I think this is just another aspect of their undervaluation in this country.

No, teachers are not exclusively union.

Teachers should be held to a higher standard than other professions because it is so hard for them to be fired for poor performance. I HAVE to be union employee and am disgusted by my co-workers on a daily basis. The union protects the poor performers much more than the positve hard working ones. Unfortunately for everyone that means bad teachers get to keep their jobs for quite a long time as long as they do the MINIMUM required not to get fired. That just seems wrong. They are public employees more or less and that gives the right to people to complain more than most other professions. I don't know of one profession I have had where I was not held accountable for my performance. If kids do great, then perfect the teacher gets rewards and accolades, but if the kids do poorly they talk about the underfunded schools and how hard their job is. Poor you. it is never the teachers fault. They should be held accountable for how their kids perform. I am not saying tie their pay to how their kids do as far as grades go, but there should be an improvement in every class room as far as testable knowledge. one kid can not care and screw off, but on average a whole class should improve or the teacher needs to change something up and be held accountable if that trend continues.

SPEEDY MCCREADY

We need a raise...
We need a raise......
We need a raise.........

Dont even get me started on my opinion of teachers.........

eyedclaar

An ignorant society is an apathetic society. This isn't an accident.

mikepegg44

eyedclaar wrote:

An ignorant society is an apathetic society. This isn't an accident.

conspiracy?

eyedclaar

mikepegg44 wrote:

eyedclaar wrote:

An ignorant society is an apathetic society. This isn't an accident.

conspiracy?

Na, that would imply it was some kind of secret.

mikepegg44

eyedclaar wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

eyedclaar wrote:

An ignorant society is an apathetic society. This isn't an accident.

conspiracy?

Na, that would imply it was some kind of secret.

so education is poor because the government wants to keep it that way to make sure that not all people participate in the gov't process?

got it,

why then do I hear how important it is to stay in school all the time? is that so if I do choose to stay in school they indoctrinate me with feelings of apathy? man they got this nailed...we should maybe tell someone about this and get things changed

eyedclaar

mikepegg44 wrote:

so education is poor because the government wants to keep it that way to make sure that not all people participate in the gov't process?

got it,

why then do I hear how important it is to stay in school all the time? is that so if I do choose to stay in school they indoctrinate me with feelings of apathy? man they got this nailed...we should maybe tell someone about this and get things changed

Yeah, you probably should, but I suspect you won't. Doesn't really matter though; nobody is listening. Idiocracy anyone?

Remember the new motto - Everything is alright with everything. Especially here in America!

mikepegg44

eyedclaar wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

so education is poor because the government wants to keep it that way to make sure that not all people participate in the gov't process?

got it,

why then do I hear how important it is to stay in school all the time? is that so if I do choose to stay in school they indoctrinate me with feelings of apathy? man they got this nailed...we should maybe tell someone about this and get things changed

Yeah, you probably should, but I suspect you won't. Doesn't really matter though; nobody is listening. Idiocracy anyone?

Remember the new motto - Everything is alright with everything. Especially here in America!

why such a fatalistic view about their situation in life? is it because it is easier to blame outside sources for the ills of the world rather than look inward? this isn't a shot at you personally, but just a question. I just don't get that attitude. It is everywhere on the MT, people are dumb retards if they vote republican, and people are tree hugging hippies if they want to vote or support democratic ideals. my god it gets old.

sorry for the rant, anyway, schools both bad and worse..got it, anyone got a piece of shit they can throw in my cereal?

eyedclaar

mikepegg44 wrote:

eyedclaar wrote:

mikepegg44 wrote:

so education is poor because the government wants to keep it that way to make sure that not all people participate in the gov't process?

got it,

why then do I hear how important it is to stay in school all the time? is that so if I do choose to stay in school they indoctrinate me with feelings of apathy? man they got this nailed...we should maybe tell someone about this and get things changed

Yeah, you probably should, but I suspect you won't. Doesn't really matter though; nobody is listening. Idiocracy anyone?

Remember the new motto - Everything is alright with everything. Especially here in America!

why such a fatalistic view about their situation in life? is it because it is easier to blame outside sources for the ills of the world rather than look inward? this isn't a shot at you personally, but just a question. I just don't get that attitude. It is everywhere on the MT, people are dumb retards if they vote republican, and people are tree hugging hippies if they want to vote or support democratic ideals. my god it gets old.

sorry for the rant, anyway, schools both bad and worse..got it, anyone got a piece of shit they can throw in my cereal?

I'm really more of a heavily armed militant minded hippy, but if you've found some hope out there on the horizon, throw it my way. I'll take all I can find.

mikepegg44

eyedclaar wrote:

I'm really more of a heavily armed militant minded hippy, but if you've found some hope out there on the horizon, throw it my way. I'll take all I can find.

well this may not be the kind you were looking for, but it makes me smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItZyaOlr ... re=popular

haffajappa

scb wrote:

cincybearcat wrote:

scb wrote:

For those of you talking about shitty teachers versus good teachers.... I'd like to know how you propose that we measure which teachers are shitty and which ones are good.

Also, I can't help but notice that there seems to be more talk about shitty teachers than most any other profession, which I think only serves to propagate the idea that it's the teachers' fault that our education system isn't better. Is this what you believe?

You'd like to know how to measure which teachers are good? Do you ask this of any other profession? Since I'm not in the education business (teacher or otherwise) I'll defer to someone who is, but I don't think it is any harder than any other profession.

There is more talk about shitty teachers because everyone comes in contact with teachers over a large portion of their lives. Do you spend that much time with lawyers? Accountants? Nope.

Also, are teachers exclusively union?

If someone calls many people of another profession shitty at that profession, yes, I ask how they measure what it means to be shitty and what it means to be good. I do believe that if people are going to talk about shitty teachers (or shitty garbage men, or shitty lawyers, or whoever), then they should be able to explain what they mean by this. (I realize that you didn't exactly do this.) I think it probably is harder to determine how to measure good teachers than many other, more objective professions.

I'll point out that, although we don't always meet them in person, we spend many more years of our lives employing the services of trash collectors, mail carriers, physicians, etc. - and yet we don't hear half as much judgement about them, especially not as a group. We all know that the healthcare system in this country is probably in worse shape than the education system, yet the failure of the education system is blamed on teachers much more than the failure of the healthcare system is blamed on doctors (and you certainly wouldn't see all the healthcare providers in an entire system fired like happened in that one school system). But everyone's a fucking critic when it comes to teachers, and I think this is just another aspect of their undervaluation in this country.

No, teachers are not exclusively union.

I'm sure there is a very blurred line and a large grey area, but you should be able to associate who is on which end of the spectrum... take for example (and i'm not trying to be biased) my mom: shows up to work 2 hours before to prepare, make worksheets, keeps her class interactive and always has the highest enrollment (she is an ESL teacher). Her coworker: brings an acoustic guitar to class and sings (this is her idea of teaching ESL)...